Diary 6|20|2014: Carrollton Market, First Time.

[title type="h5"]Friday, June 20, 2014. First Taste Of Carrollton Market. [/title] Chef Jason Goodenough was on the radio with me a few weeks ago. He answered a question I never thought about before. Why is the 700 block of Dublin Street a divided boulevard with a broad neutral ground? One side of that block is completely taken up by the featureless rear of the old shopping center on South Carrollton Avenue. The other side is a row of shops and cafes. All the rest of Dublin Street is narrow, feeding a neighborhood of old, modest residences. "That was the original market for the town of Carrollton," Jason said. "The farmers and other vendors would set up there every day and sell their fresh produce. And that's why we named our restaurant Carrollton Market." Carrollton Market took the baton from One Restaurant, which closed last year after nine years of four-star cooking. One was preceded by Philly's Best (a cheese steak shop), the original Frankie's Café, Alberto's, and Padrino's. This succession showed a general trend of improvement with each new opening, although each one struggled with the same issue: the small size of the space. The One guys came up with a great idea: they knocked out a wall of the kitchen, and replaced it with a food bar, so customers could watch their orders being cooked then see the chef reach over and drop the goods in front of them. Not only was this attractive to a lot of customers, but it added more seats to the place, which never had enough of them. It was Mary Ann's idea for us to have dinner there tonight. She likes the place, and it has a good hipness quotient--an important index for her and her friends in the mainstream. We sat at the counter, of course. The first thing I noticed was that Chef Jason was not behind the line, but at the end of it, acting as expediter. He's the last person to look over a finished dish before the waiter carries it to the table. It's an essential position in big kitchens, but a luxury in a place this size. On the other hand, there's no doubt that this adds a degree of polish to the food, so I uncocked my eyebrows, and attended to the cocktail of cava, lavender liqueur, and gin that I ordered to kick things off. (A good bar is another feature instituted by One and continued in this new restaurant.) First courses were chilled. One was a collection of market greens and tomatoes, made into two squares playing the roles of quasi-sandwich and semi-salad. It was tastier than it looked. The other was my favorite dish of the night, a smooth take on gazpacho made with heirloom tomatoes, herb oil, and crabmeat. I have never literally licked a plate clean, but that wouldn't have been unpleasant in this case. Next we split an order of four fried oysters on their shells, abetted by two old friends: bacon and bearnaise. Mary Ann ate her usual single oyster (never more), and I scarfed up the rest. Short of burning the oysters, I don't know how this could possibly have been less than delicious, and it wasn't. We would see many orders of oysters Goodenough pass from the line chef to the namesake chef and beyond. [caption id="attachment_42806" align="alignnone" width="480"] Seafood risotto.[/caption] The chef then sends three dishes that I wish he'd held back. One was named Crispy Fried Pork Tail Tots. The chef described this as being sort of a hogshead cheese treated like breaded potato nuggets. I eagerly await the day when chefs get past the vogue of going far down the culinary scale for their ideas. Just plain hogshead cheese would have been good; deep-frying it is one hey, y'all too many. The other two samples were a seafood risotto with a terrible texture (my guess as to why: the plump oysters were throwing off water) and a beautiful, eminently edible, large shrimp. Then something whose picture I have, but still cannot identify. We didn't like this, either. Curiously, all three of these things had saltiness in common. [caption id="attachment_42807" align="alignnone" width="480"] Red snapper with yellow curry fried rice.[/caption] Once we left that part of the menu behind, never to return, the dinner was back up to its initial level. Mary Ann had a very handsome slab of red snapper before her. I thought it was perfectly cooked; she likes fish a little stiffer, so that's her problem. We both liked the fried rice, tinged with yellow Thai curry. Great dish. [caption id="attachment_42808" align="alignnone" width="480"] Strip sirloin.[/caption] And so was mine, a small (but big enough) sirloin strip steak, seared the way I requested, sent out with fresh-cut fries. The latter again showed that somebody in the kitchen has too heavy a hand on the salt shaker. For dessert we shared a chocolate pot de creme with a few little square beignets with cinnamon sugar. Nice ending. The dining room was sparse when we arrived, but apparently the people in the Carrollton Section dine late, because all of the tables (but, curiously, none of the food bar, save our seats) were full. Part of the attraction is the pricing. Only one dish gets up to $30, and some starters are priced with one digit. Good value for fresh, local food. Despite the interesting history of the neighborhood, I think the name "Carrollton Market" will keep some people from giving the place a second glance. Every restaurant sign should include the word "restaurant," or a close synonym. And one day the steepness of the stairs to the entrance here needs attenuation, so old gimps like me don't have to take them one step at a time, hand gripped tightly onto the railing. All these are matters that even a good restaurateur requires time to work out. And this is still a pretty new restaurant. [title type="h5"]Carrollton Market. Riverbend: 8132 Hampson St. 504-252-9928. [/title]